Last April, Van Bramer stood next to a grieving widow and called for a protected bike lane on 43rd Avenue. DOT produced a plan, but Van Bramer refused to support it.

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer called for a protected bike lane on 43rd Avenue in April 2017 alongside Flor Jimenez, whose partner Gelacio Reyes had been killed biking on the roadway — a call that set into motion a year of "regrets." Photo: David Meyer

“I don’t believe we can move forward with this DOT plan at this time,” Van Bramer said in a statement to the Times-Ledger, because it “failed to gain enough support among residents, community institutions, elected officials and Community board 2.” Van Bramer says he still “supports” a protected bike lane on 43rd Avenue, which is meaningless if he doesn’t endorse moving ahead with a redesign.

The statement is the culmination of several months of waffling by Van Bramer. Last April, he was standing in solidarity with Flor Jimenez, the widow of Gelacio Reyes, to call for a redesign of 43rd Avenue, where a driver had struck and killed Reyes as he biked home from work. At the time, he said DOT should take “immediate” action to determine “not if, but how” a protected bike lane could be installed on the street.

But Van Bramer didn’t keep fighting. He lost all conviction as soon as DOT released a plan showing how a protected bike lane would work on these streets.

In November, DOT presented a redesign of 43rd and Skillman that would flip the existing bike lanes and parking lanes, install pedestrian islands at some intersections, and remove a car lane on less-trafficked blocks to deter speeding [PDF].

He also led DOT around by the nose before finally declaring that he’s against implementation of the project. First he said his support was contingent on DOT installing safety improvements outside P.S. 11 and P.S. 343. When DOT moved forward with those requests, Van Bramer’s “concession” was to hold a town hall on the bike lane project. At the town hall, he expressed support for protected bike lanes in general, but took no position on the Skillman/43rd plan and did nothing to push back on concerns about parking.

At a succession of community board meetings, town halls, and public workshops, Van Bramer never once defended the redesign, even as DOT reworked it to cut the parking reduction from 158 spaces to 116.

In his statement today, Van Bramer would not concede that he has sacrificed public safety to appease a few parking absolutists, instead pinning everything on DOT. “DOT’s initial community outreach, including a meeting with PS 11 parents, was disastrous, making the process even more painful,” he said.

Letting Van Bramer dictate policy here would leave a giant gap between the Queens Boulevard protected bike lane, which terminates at 49th Street, and points west. It’s no way to build a safe bike network.

Asked about the project on WNYC last week, Mayor de Blasio said that he had “no problem” moving forward with street redesigns when public safety is at stake and DOT has made a good faith effort to incorporate feedback.

“I have no problem saying, when we’ve come to the judgment that it’s about safety, that even if there is opposition or concern, we’re going to make that judgment in the name of protecting lives, but I do like to hear from communities,” de Blasio said. “I do like to see if we can balance concerns and get people to hear that we’re actually trying to adjust where we can for real and honest needs.”

It remains to be seen whether DOT will move forward with the project. But in a statement, DOT explained why the agency views protected bike lanes on both 43rd and Skillman as the proper treatment to prevent crashes like the one that claimed Gelacio Reyes’s life and critically injured David Nunes ten days later:

DOT proposed the safety redesign to calm traffic on Skillman and 43rd Avenues following two tragic crashes that killed one cyclist and left another in critical condition, and in response to the growing use of the two avenues as a vital link for bike commuting between Queens Boulevard and the Queensboro and Pulaski Bridges.

Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee voted to approve the proposal after DOT engaged in a year’s worth of outreach during which we sought community input and did everything possible to minimize impacts.

DOT looked at the option of a two-way protected bike lane on 43rd Avenue only, but we determined that this alternative would not work for the following reasons:

More conflicts. Adding another direction of bike traffic on 43rd Avenue would increase the number of conflict points between drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, who would not expect to see cyclists coming in the opposite direction.

Reduction in travel lane and slower vehicle traffic. In order to make the space for a two-way path, a travel lane would have to be removed for the majority of the corridor and signal timing would have to be modified to include dedicated turn phases, resulting in increased travel time delays.

Parking loss. The alternative design would switch all of the parking burden from Skillman Avenue to 43rd Avenue, meaning there would likely be just as much parking loss.

Finally, If we were to remove Skillman Avenue from the project, there would be no traffic calming elements along that corridor, including the shortened pedestrian crossings that are part of the current proposal, traffic calming elements that the community has requested from DOT for several years.

For all of these reasons, the Skillman/43rd Avenue redesign remains the best plan for protecting all street users while addressing the growth of cycling in communities across Queens.

Correction: This post originally said the 43rd/Skillman plan would repurpose 51 parking spaces. The correct number is 116 and the post has been amended to reflect that.

The rule should be: If a council member stands next to a grieving widow and asks DOT to fix a dangerous condition, DOT should go ahead and build the project even if the council member loses his nerve later on.

On the merits, this is obviously a much-needed improvement to a weak point in the bike network. On top of all that, council members need to understand that when they ask for a street redesign, they should mean it.

How much city staff time and advocacy energy has gone into this project because Van Bramer sent a clear signal that he was all for it? Can’t toss all that work in the trash just because Van Bramer has no spine.

Build these bike lanes, prevent more loss of life before it’s too late, and show council members that they will be taken seriously when they ask for street redesigns. At the very least it will help prevent episodes of pathetic political cowardice like this going forward.

AnoNYC

“But Van Bramer, who is said to be exploring a run for Queens Borough President”

I see.

The community provided feedback, the DOT acknowledged the number one complaint:

“DOT reworked it to cut the parking reduction from 158 spaces to just 51.”

It is absolutely appalling that Van Bramer would throw DOT under the bus and say that their outreach was “disastrous” when the department bent over backwards to minimize parking loss to appease the community board. Plus, DOT reps stood at these meetings and were verbally abused by hostile board members and others who accused them of making up facts, like it was a Trump rally or something.

No agency is perfect, but the people at DOT who regularly present bike and pedestrian projects are among the most professional and polite people as can be found working in city government. Jimmy Van Bramer’s comments are insulting to these hard working public servants.

Fix the damn street, just like Van Bramer asked the first time out WHILE STANDING NEXT TO A GRIEVING WIDOW. City Hall and DOT have the moral high ground here.

AnoNYC

This B.S. also delays the ability of the DOT to dedicate more time and effort towards other street reconfigurations.

Similar to how legislators in Inwood want to reconfigure the recently installed bicycle lanes on Dyckman St, money that could be used for other projects.

ItsEasyBeingGreen

what has emerged from this process is apparent near unanimity among opponents of this plan for a protected bike lane on Northern Boulevard in CB2

Can Jimmy explain to us how we’re supposed to get from Queens Boulevard to the bridge, or to any destination on Skillman Ave, via Northern Boulevard? It seems like that would add a lot of distance to ones trip. Has Jimmy actually rode this route before recommending it?

Wes Craven Angry

The CB is a joke. Arm twisting, lying and theatrics to attempt to kill a project that will prevent cyclists and peds from bring killed. To get the number of parking spaces taken away down to 51 and to still have such anger shows on a project that will benefit the community and all Queens cyclists shows this is all about political maneuvering and grand standing. Anyone in the district who claims to be progressive or a Democrat can just shut up now.

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer insists he's working to advance the implementation of protected bike lanes on 43rd Avenue and Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, but the process he envisions could delay the project indefinitely.

After two crashes in ten days at the same Sunnyside intersection left one cyclist dead and another in critical condition, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer is calling on DOT to take immediate action and install a protected bike lane on 43rd Avenue between Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue.